Why Flipkart is covering Insurance for its Sellers?

Flipkart which is owned by Walmart has announced that it will cover insurance for all its platform sellers in India and waive additional fees. The announcement was made after Amazon’s announcement which said that it would reduce 50 % of the referral fees which the sellers on Amazon’s platform are required to pay this month. Let’s look at the details of the insurance cover provided by Flipkart to its sellers.

Reason for providing the Insurance
Details of the Insurance
Additional Steps taken by Flipkart
FAQ

Reason for providing the Insurance

Flipkart which is owned by Walmart has announced that it would not charge cancellation and storage fees from its sellers that are listed on their platform. They also announced that they would be providing insurance coverage to its sellers.

The main reason behind this step is to maintain a strong and friendly relationship with its seller base which is more than 3,00,000. Flipkart is the top most e-commerce platform in India and during this unexpected phase due to the global pandemic and increase in the number of Covid-19 cases in India, they are looking to support the sellers who are facing severe disruption.

Details of the Insurance

As several Indian states have imposed a strict restriction on the movement of individuals and cut down the selling of non-essential items on the e-commerce platforms, the Bangalore headquartered company on 7 May 2021 had announced that it would reduce the storage fees of sellers who are using the fulfillment centers of Flipkart and they are also reducing the cancellation fee till the end of this month.

The company had announced that it would bear a 100% premium for Covid insurance to all the sellers that are listed on their digital platform. The company conveyed that they would cover a consultation fees and hospitalization fees in between INR 50,000 and INR 3,00,000.

Flipkart had also announced that the company is making it easier for sellers to access working capital from the firm without any increase or addition on the cost.

The company has also taken a step to increase the period for Seller Protection Fund from 14 days to 30 days in order to make claims on returned products. Flipkart also conveyed that they would make their policies and performance metrics much easier for the sellers so that the state-wise lockdown doesn’t affect them.

Additional Steps taken by Flipkart

The company has announced that it has partnered with Vriddhi, which is a Supplier Development Programme in India by Walmart. The main aim of the programme is to host webinars for the small businesses in order to share the best practices which will help them to stay afloat during the crisis and ensure the safety of their workforce.

Jagjeet Harode who is the senior director and the head of the marketplace at Flipkart had conveyed in the statement that in these testing times, it is the company’s consistent efforts to support the seller partners who are facing a lot of challenges relating to operation in the country due to the pandemic.

He also added that as a democratic marketplace, the company would want to make sure that lakhs of seller partners would be able to continue their operations and keep their economic engines running.

FAQ

Is flipkart delivering non essentials?

Amazon and Flipkart have suspended delivery of non-essential items

Who is the founder of Flipkart?

Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal are the founders of Flipkart.

What is the revenue of Flipkart in 2020?

346.1 billion Indian rupees

Conclusion

India has been witnessing a huge increase in the infections and has recorded the highest single day spike in the number of cases around the world. The lockdowns implemented in various states and the major metro cities in the country have affected the e-commerce firms and their sellers. This would be a great initiative from the company in order to support their seller base in the country.